Metamorpho The Man from Alpha Centauri Outer Space Men Action Figure Xpress San Diego Comic-Con Exclusives Item No.: n/a Manufacturer: Four Horsemen Includes: Alternate arms, ray gun, some wand thing, 7 more figures Action Feature: Rotate knob to change to one of three different faces Retail: $115.00 (sold as a set with Astro-Nautilus, Inferno, Xodiac, Alpha 7, Mystron, Commander Comet, and Electron+) Availability: July 2013 Other: The Sparsely Decorated White Plastic One
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Generally speaking, my love for my action figures increases with time. We spend time watching TV or writing reviews, or I have to carry them around from one home to the next. For all of their faults, I usually love them. With White Star Metamorpho I've come away from this set (and indeed the bulk of the 2013 offerings for this line) quite disappointed. This set was blown out at reduced prices and practically given away due to the 200-piece run being unable to sell itself, it looks as if the White Star line won't necessarily ever be completed, and unless you're a customizer these things are kind of a dud. They exist, sure, but they're probably the least interesting figures in the entire run of close to 80 different figures.

It's not a bad figure per se - it's just that most Glyos-compatible figure lines, like Power Lords, will eventually get repainted to the point where it's fun for newbies, and for the devout or the completist, but your average collector will start to say "I've got that, don't I?" That's the case here- it turns out that these were so good for customizers that some of the other White Star figures were used by the Horsemen as the basis for customized, hand-painted figure runs late in 2013 since it seems the fans themselves were more or less over doing it themselves. Given that this was the seventh release of the mold - an excellent design with a great gimmick - the line wore out its welcome.

The face-changing gimmick is less amazing when the head is unpainted, because if your eyes are bad all you see is that the eye size changes a bit on the figure. The textures and expressions are lost in unpainted white plastic, which sort of makes this one big giant step back - the regular two releases, and the two "Cosmic Creators" releases were stunning, gorgeous figures that looked as if a sci-fi illustrator's drawings came to life and took up residence on your desk, saving you a trip to the local art gallery to drool over it. The textured reptilian skin is still there, but you're going to need to add a wash or some paint to see it. The suit's whiteness makes it blend in with the rest of this 8-pack - they really do look very similar when color is no longer a factor. You can still swap parts, but why? It is what it is - perhaps you will find it charming, but the other releases are so beautiful, this was sort of a whimper when it became (to date) the last figure of Metamorpho. It would appear unlikely that there would be a reason to make another one ever again as the original audience for this line has aged out of toys, and the young nostalgia boom from action figure magazines had difficulty keeping up with the recolors over the years.

The figure's joints all move smoothly, the sculpting is wonderful, and there's a lot of personality to unlock if you're willing to paint it yourself - given the price tag, I believe we'd have been better served to see other colors of plastic used to bring out the fun of these awesome designs. While I would push any and all collectors to add a Metamorpho action figure to their collection, I wouldn't suggest that you make it this one unless you're going for some sort of all-white motif in your office, in which case you are probably a racist.

Additional Images

Additional Outer Space Men 2013 White Star SDCC Exclusive Images

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